Time To Move On
by DobbyRocksSocks
Summary: Neither realised they were having the same thought. Maybe it was time to move on. Dramione.


**Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise. **

**A/N - So, as you'll be able to see from the Competitions and Challenges this is for, this isn't (by a long shot) my favorite pairing. But! I tried. and I hope it turned out at least semi-alright. Either way, I hope you enjoy. **

**Written for - The Spell/Charm/Curse Competition - Renervate - NOTP **

**The Scavenger Hunt Competition - NOTP **

**The Disney Character Competition - Belle **

**The 19000 Prompts, One Week Competition - View **

**Moving On**

Hermione sighed, leaning her head against the wall. This year was not going as she had hoped it would. It was supposed to be easy, coming back to Hogwarts, resitting the year she had missed, but it wasn't. Her classes... they bored her, if she was honest with herself. It wasn't something she had ever even contemplated happening, and it irritated her.

Where was the girl she used to know, the one who loved learning every last morsel of knowledge her Professor's could throw her way? Where was the girl who loved the library, who hated going out of the Common Room after curfew, who sat in front of the fire night after night, studying book after book? Where was the girl who got close to a nervous breakdown whenever the end of years test were a mere ten weeks away?

She missed that girl.

The same could be said for Harry and Ron though. They too were different than they had been before the war. Harry buried himself in books, ignoring the world around him as he studied day and night. She knew it was his way of avoiding everything that happened, and she was worried about him. He was still eating, and sleeping better than he had in years though, so she would let him be for the time being.

Ron on the other hand was ignoring his studies, almost completely. He chased girls, he laughed and joked loudly, too loudly, he got drunk with the boys, he did everything he thought a teenage boy should do. It was his way of dealing, and Hermione couldn't bring herself to nagging him about it. If it was what he needed, who was she to say different.

The three of them were still close of course, they always would be. They still knew each other better than any other person ever would, and they would always be there to support each other, through anything.

Hermione stared out at the night sky, looking up at the stars. It was a beautiful, clear night, and she was glad she'd left the dorm for the peace and quiet of the Astronomy tower to enjoy it. She loved the view from up here. It was calming. She was so lost in thought, that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her until it was too late to hide.

Turning to see who had caught her out of bed, her heart jumped to her mouth.

Blond hair and grey eyes, tears on cheeks, his mouth in a thin, unhappy line. Draco Malfoy stood before her, looking terrified at the very sight of her.

"Are you alright?" she asked after a moment. He had fought against coming back, she knew. Harry had been at his trial, and Draco had been offered two choices. Back to Hogwarts, or be shipped off to Azkaban. Even without the Dementors, Azkaban wasn't a place anyone wanted to be, so in the end, it wasn't a choice at all.

He didn't answer. He started backing away from her slowly, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

"You don't have to leave," she told him, turning away from him. "I don't have a problem with you, Malfoy. Not anymore."

She heard him stop, and she could almost hear the wheels turning in his head as he thought about what she said.

"Why?" he asked quietly. His voice was rough from his obvious crying, and she felt a pang of concern for her once childhood enemy.

"Because I have better reasons to hate other people. The hate I felt for you, well, I don't even think it was hate anymore. We were kids."

She could feel his eyes on her, but she didn't turn around again. She returned her gaze to the stars, just in time to catch a shooting star whizz across the blackness.

"I don't understand," he muttered, stumbling over his words.

"What's to misunderstand? We've been through a war, and come out the other side. I'm tired, you look tired, Merlin, we're all tired. We fought a war that we didn't start, and I don't want to fight anymore. I have no fight left."

After a silent moment, she felt him come closer. He sat beside her, his arm brushing hers. She glanced at him in the moonlight, and she knew she'd be right. He looked... in truth he looked shocking.

"When was the last time you slept? Properly, I mean," she asked, unsurprised when he shrugged. If it was only one thing they all had in common, it was sleeping problems. Harry, so used to them, was better than he had been. For everyone else, it was hard.

"I don't know. The summer before sixth year, maybe? I can't remember," he replied, and she could hear the weariness in his voice.

"You should take some dreamless sleep. It'll help."

"Maybe."

They sat in silence for a while, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was Draco who broke it.

"I am sorry, you know. For everything that happened. I... I don't even know what to say. But I am sorry."

She nodded slightly. "I know. Harry told us you two cleared the air, after the battle. He didn't tell us what you said, but yeah, he told us not to get on your case. Not that I would have."

"I wondered... I thought Weasley..."

"He's not so bad, you know. And he listens to Harry, most of the time."

He nodded. "I kinda got that, when he wasn't hexing me every two minutes. What happened between... Sorry. That's none of my business."

"What happened between me and Ron, right?" she asked, a wry smile adorning her lips. At his confirmation, she chuckled. "Nothing happened. Well, nothing bad, anyway. We're just... too different I guess, and we know too much about each other. We've been friends forever, you know."

"I get that. I broke the Betrothal with the Parkinsons, much for the same reason. Pansy is like my baby sister, it would feel...wrong. Since Lucius got put on lifelong house arrest, it left me with the Head of Family ring, and the power to break it. Grayson Parkinson, her father, wasn't particularly impressed with me."

"I don't suppose he was. So what are the plans of the young Lord Malfoy when you leave school?"

"I'm going to Merlin University to study Law. Eventually, I want to open my own practice," he replied, and she smiled at the sudden change in him. He seemed more confident when he talked about his plan, and she hoped he managed to pull it off.

"I'm going to the University as well," she informed him quietly.

"To study what?"

"Law."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, Miss Granger. It looks like we'll be rivals again."

"Hopefully, it'll be more friendlier this time."

"I hope so too."

"I should go," she mumbled, shocked and unsettled by the warmth in her stomach when she saw the sparkle in his eyes. "You should sleep, Draco," she told him, placing a hand on his shoulder for a second as she stood up.

She missed the way he put his own hand where her's had been, and the incredulous look that passed over his face.

"She called me Draco."

Later that night, as they each lay in their beds, staring at the canopies, neither knew that they shared a last thought before sleep took them.

_Maybe it's time to move on._

xxxx

**Four Years Later**

"Congratulations, Hermione!" Harry said, picking her up in a hug and spinning her around. She had just graduated Merlin University, and he, the Weasley Family, and her parent's were there to see it.

"Thanks," she laughed as he put her down. "Come with me, there's someone I want you to meet," she told him, taking his hand to pull him through the wide hall.

She led him to a man with blond hair and grey eyes. The sparkle in his eyes as he saw her made her heart flutter, and she couldn't keep the smile off her face when he held his hands out to her.

"Harry, this is Draco. Draco, Harry," she introduced, and both men could see the worry in her eyes. She wanted this to go well. The tenseness in her shoulders was almost tangible. Harry raised an eyebrow at her before shaking his head in amusement.

"Nice to meet you," he said, holding out a hand for Draco to shake. Draco took it, and said with a laugh, "Likewise."

"So how long have you two been together?" Harry asked, as they took seats at a nearby table.

"About three years," Hermione said looking sheepish. "I didn't know how to tell you."

"The way you just told me was fine. Didn't seem that hard either," Harry said, still amused. She slapped his arm lightly.

"I'll get you a drink," she said, standing and ruffling a hand through the always messy hair.

Harry stared at Draco for a moment.

"Hurt her, and I'll kill you."

"If I hurt her, I'll let you."

"Alright. I'll hold you to that."

"Thank you. For making that easier for her."

"Of course. It help that I knew it was coming."

"Are you ever going to tell her that I told you over two years ago?"

"Merlin, no. Have you been on the end of her temper? She's evil when she wants to be."

Draco laughed at the mock shiver Harry did as Hermione reappeared at the table with three drinks.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked, looking between them. Harry just looked at Draco and shrugged.

Draco sighed, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend.

"Nothing, dear."


End file.
